Scents
by DarkPhoenix484
Summary: [KibaNaru, shounen ai] Kiba is confused regarding the array of scents a human, or more precisely Naruto, can have. A mission and a painful encounter later, he finds his answer.


**Disclaimer: **I do not and will never own any characters from Naruto. They are the possessions of the creator of the series, Kishimoto-_sensei_ and, Jump magazines. I am merely borrowing them for the sake of having something to write on and because I love the characters very much.

**Summary: **Kiba is confused regarding the array of scents a human, or more precisely Naruto, can have. A mission and a painful encounter later, he finds his answer.

**Warnings: **kissing, adult language, adult violence and a little angst. Shounen-ai. Which is boy x boy and if you don't like it then reading this would probably not be a good idea. Don't flame me later if you decide to continue anyway. Choice was yours.

**Spoilers: **I guess for most of the manga.

**Rating: **PG-13

**Pairings: **KibaNaru

**Timing: **15 or 16, I suppose.

**Author's notes: **Well, after my first fanfic, I decided that if I get at least ten reviews, I'll write another story. I did get them and such lovely reviews too. Thanks to all who reviewed 'What My Heart Says'. I am so happy.

Anyway, this fic…it's complicated. I wanted to continue with ShinoNaru (and I will in future, like Nico-Chan said, 'we can like our ShinoNaru.') but I also wanted to write other pairings. Especially, KibaNaru and ShikaNaru. Well, I started on this quite sometime ago and, I must admit, it started kind of weird. Then it just picked up speed and I don't know how but the end came out to be better than I expected. I have this slight problem with author blocks happening in the middle of a fic, but when I am nearing the end of a fic it just seems to flow as I imagine the scene. I have done my best to let the characters be in character and I apologize ahead of time if my battle scenes suck. I can't write a decent battle sequence to save my life.

**Important:** The story's in Kiba's point of view at first, then switches of to the third person point of view and back again to Kiba's. You'll understand how it goes when you read. It's fairly clear.

Anyway, I should stop my rambling here for now and let you guys get on with the fic. Go on, I hope you guys like it. Oh, and please, don't forget to review. Arigatou.

* * *

**Scents**

_- By DarkPhoenix484_

I'm an expert on smells. Really, I am. I am aware that some people find it disgusting and slightly disturbing but to a ninja it's an asset found only in a few. Our clan comprises of those few. You see, we have the ability of focusing our chakra on our nose and increase our sense of smell by a thousand. So really, we can differentiate between enemies and friends just by our using our nose, even in _genjutsu._ Quite similar to how the Uchiha would use their _Sharingan_ and a Hyuuga their _Byakugan_, wouldn't you say?

Throughout my fifteen years of life I have been around many people. I have categorized their scent and their personalities and around the time I became a _genin,_ I had firmly established that every scent is a full on match to its personality. Like Hinata's sweet strawberry smell goes so much with her shy personality. And Shino has this light woodsy smell much like how a forest smells when it's wet and full of bugs. Makes my nose itch, really. Sasuke has this dark and foreboding smell, while Shikamaru smells of spices, which threw me off until I found out that he is a freaking genius. Ino smells of a mixture of flowers while Sakura is cherry blossom. So, as you see, with so much overwhelming evidence I had concluded that a person's personality can be detected by just smelling a person out.

But then, what category would Naruto belong to? Every time I catch his scent, it's like I smell a different person. It's totally bizarre. Of course a person's scent never changes. Even Naruto has a keen bright sunshine smell always beneath any other he emits. The only problem is that he becomes an exception to the rule I had so carefully constructed through my years of study and experience.

I had never known Naruto before the academy. I didn't think much of Naruto even in the academy. He was just some stupid kid who had already failed three exams and still could not pull off a decent transformation technique. The first time I had ever seen him, he was being punished by Iruka-_sensei_ and was trying to make it seem as if his incorrect transformation was a prank. I thought he was interesting at first but he turned out to be hilarious. I have never been able to control my laughter and I never will. Why should I? So I laughed, with everybody else. He stood there with glaring eyes and shouted that he would make us acknowledge him by becoming the _Hokage_ one day. I didn't think much of him then.

There had been occasions when we ditched class together, or have been punished together when we were academy students. He smelled of mischief every time I was with him. His constancy with that particular smell and his everyday pranks only reinforced my rule at the time. But then we graduated and everything changed.

I had not seen Naruto for a while and indeed I was very surprised that he had even graduated at all, as well passed to become a _genin_ with us. When I heard about the _chunnin_ exams, I was very excited. I would finally get to show Shino up. He always likes to take my spotlight. Also there would be very strong opponents in the exam. Of course I wasn't including Naruto among them. That dunce had always been slow and below me and I thought he would always be. I was waiting to pit myself with people like Sasuke and Shino. Gaara, on the other hand, just freaked the hell out of me. I wouldn't want to do anything with him.

The first _Chunnin_ Exams - that's one memory I would never forget. I was utterly beaten by someone I had always thought of as a loser. I mocked his dreams of being a _Hokage_ then, when he was lying on the floor after taking multiple hits from me. But he stood up every damn time. It was during this match that I became aware that using my thousand fold sense of smell all the time might not be a very good idea.

He smelled of confidence then, and something else that was not there before. He had never smelt like this in the academy and even during the orientation. Something must have happened to him while he had been assigned to missions. He smelt of danger.

Ever since then I had smelt the same underlying hint of danger in Naruto but it seems that as the years pass the smell grows too. On one mission, assigned to us as _chunnins_, I saw his eyes go red. But when I took a closer look it was the same clear dark blue it had always been. Was that just my imagination? Or am I going crazy?

Lately, Naruto's strength had been going haywire. He had always been strong, I acknowledge it. But he has never been able to break a full tree from its stump right off with a single punch. It's insane. I have heard that the only person who could have done that is our Fifth Hokage, Tsunade-_hime_. That's one tough old lady.

He is still as loud as I am, and yes, I do admit I am loud. How can I not notice my own noise level when I have two very, and I do mean very, silent people on my team? But there is this random burst of silence in Naruto's presence that one can't help but notice, especially given his usual level of volume, if you know what I mean.

Heck, why am I even wondering about him? Sheesh, Akamaru is going to have puppies from all the laughing when he finds out that I have been obsessing over the scents and moods of the village idiot, like some sort of love-sick mutt who goes around smelling for a mate.

Bah…, no way am I going to tell Akamaru about this, best friend or not. I do have my dignity you know. And there won't be much left of it if I reveal this little monologue to my furry little friend, who is not so little anymore.

Sigh, there is nothing here to do except think. This stupid mission to the Hidden Village of Stones, it's troublesome. Apparently there has been an incident with the fire country's messenger to the Earth Country, and the Fire Lord wants the Leaf shinobi to accompany the investigators and the new messengers. They don't trust the Earth Country and even less the stone shinobi. Sigh… another boring escort mission.

Shikamaru is the leader of this escort and protection mission. Man, he always gets the part of the leader. Honestly, come on! I want to lead a team of my own. But I guess, if things get rough, he is a pretty reliable person. He _has_ led a lot of missions and has been successful in both the completion and the safety of his team. Though, I still don't see lazy-ass Shikamaru as the leader type, I have to give him some credit; he is a _jounin_ now after all, and has been for over a year, while the rest of us still need to finish the required criteria for taking the _jounin_ exam.

I can smell Neji a few feet behind the fire country officials, guarding the rear. Neji, the uptight guy, is one scary person, I tell you. He had always hurt Hinata before Naruto somehow changed him during the first _chunnin_ exams. I still don't know what happened then. I would have been able to do something to help too had that crazy _Anbu _doctor not knocked me out. I heard Neji was just promoted to the _jounin_ level a few months back and has been on excellent recommendations from his senior officers.

Chouji was supposed to have come with us but apparently he was injured in a field mission two weeks before and is in convalescence right now.

Lee and Shino are on a different field mission from us. They left a day before we did. And Sasuke, that jackass, is doing interior work. I just recently found out but apparently Sasuke's whole family has been leaders of the _Konoha_ police corps since for ages. Even though the Uchiha clan long died, the _Konoha_ corps was still being run, but nobody took them seriously anymore. After we somehow, and I say so because I don't remember much of what happened after the sand-nins came as back up, were able to bring Sasuke back, _Godaime_ convinced Sasuke to enlist as an officer of the police corps. She also sanctioned Kakashi as a captain of the police force. And since, Sasuke's anger had settled down a bit. We never asked him why he left. Or why he decided to come back. Only Naruto, Sasuke and _Godaime_ know of what happened when Naruto caught up with him.

I can sense Naruto towards my left. He is quite for once. Maybe he is bored too? Nah, he would have loudly voiced it way back if he was.

You know, it's strange but we are usually paired in this formation. Neji guards the back, I look for any interlopers, Shikamaru is the strategist and Naruto is the power. Akamaru says he is also the heart of the team. I have asked him a million times to explain what he means but he clams up and starts playing with Naruto whenever I ask. Some best friend he is.

Like I said, it has been a routine escort boring mission so far. No incidents, no random ninjas or even forest bandits attacking. Heck even the forest animals attacking would have been a welcome change but for the past three hours there has been no sign of any animals. Even a rabbit would have been cool to catch and - Wait! there have been no animals in the surrounding area for quite some time. Why? This part of the forest is quite dense and should have been teeming with wild animals. I understand that they shy away from human contact but not to the extent that Akamaru and I can't even smell them for miles off. Something's wrong. Something's very, very wrong.

* * *

"Nothing." 

Shikamaru looked up from his perusal of the map he had been carrying to look at Kiba. "What are you mumbling?"

"There are no wild animals for miles around us. That's not natural." Kiba murmured looking around and trying to sniff out at least some form of natural life force.

Shikamaru went on instant alert. Neji who had come closer to hear their discussion stated, "I noticed there have been no animals for quite sometime behind us. So, there have been none in front of us either."

"I see. Kiba, can you or Akamaru smell anything else that is out of ordinary from around us. Like the smell of rust, or metal, or leather? Even sweat?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't smell anything like that in our immediate vicinity but there are some indications of burnt leaves from up ahead and strong scent of metal from our 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock position." Kiba said after a while. Akamaru barked something to Kiba, "and Akamaru says that he senses chakra strong enough to be classified as _chunnin_ and _jounin_, in case of some, and there are more coming from further back in 6'o clock and 10 o'clock positions."

"Shit." Shikamaru exclaimed softly, "They have already surrounded us from all sides except the North-East. We can go there, but for someone, who could surround us without our notice in all of left side to leave that area for last rather than the 6 o'clock position, it's kinda suspicious."

"So you're saying it's some kind of trap?" Neji asked.

"Most probably." Shikamaru said, rubbing his forehead. "How many of them are there anyway, Kiba?" He asked.

"There is a team of two both in front and behind us. The rest of the positions are occupied by one person each." Kiba stated after a while.

"So, in total that's seven. How troublesome, they outnumber us by nearly twice our offensive power and Hidden Stone shinobi's are known for their stealth techniques." Shikamaru closed his eyes and assumed his standard thinking position. Kiba and Neji left him there to reflect on their position while making sure nothing is out of the ordinary. They knew Shikamaru would be able to sort the situation out. They trusted him.

"Hey, where's Naruto?" Kiba asked looking around.

"_Byakugan_." Neji faced back towards their clients and searched further around the clearing.

"He is near the stream, filling up his and the client's water." Neji stated deactivating his Byakugan.

"Well, somebody should inform him of the situation." Kiba said moving forward towards the sound of running water with Akamaru.

"Kiba, stay here. We can't afford to get separated now. It would be easier for them to take us out then."

"What about Naruto, then? We can't just leave him there. What if they attack him?" Kiba was starting to get angry at Neji's calm towards the situation. _How can he remain so damn cool when one of his comrades might be in danger?_

"I know how you feel Kiba, and believe me when I say that I don't want to see Naruto hurt anymore than you do but for now, we need to keep an appearance of nonchalance so as not to attract attention to the fact that we know what's going on."

"_Oi_." A voice interrupted the conversation between the two. "What's wrong with your leader there, why is he just sitting like that?" One of the investigators asked.

"He is resting for the journey ahead." Neji informed them coolly.

"By the way, where is Naruto?" He asked them, almost carelessly.

"Eh? The blond haired kid? Well, our water was diminishing so we wanted to get some from the close by stream, but he stopped us. Said that it might be dangerous and went to get them himself." The investigator replied.

"I see. Well, you should get ready. We'll be starting any minute now." Neji told him.

"_Aa_." The client agreed and went back to his group.

"Hey Neji, what are we going to do about Naruto?" Kiba asked again.

"Well, if he doesn't show up in fifteen minutes we'll all have to move and get him."

"'K" Kiba sighed.

* * *

"Okay, listen up people." Shikamaru got up from his silent reflection and called out towards the group. "We need to get a move on." 

They nodded in unison. Naruto tumbled out of the bushes, the containers he was carrying now almost bursting with water.

"Here you go. I filled them nice and cool." Naruto handed the bottles back to the thankful clients, his usual big grin in place.

Kiba however was not thankful and neither was Akamaru.

"Naruto, what took you so long? You were out there for a half-hour." Kiba asked coming closer to Naruto.

"Ah, um…Sorry about that. I tripped and fell on my way back." Naruto explained with a hand behind his head, still grinning.

"Oh really, and what else happened?" Kiba asked scathingly. "You don't smell the same as usual, did you fall on some scented plants our something? You smell strongly of earth too."

"Ah, really? I didn't notice." Naruto said, his grin now nowhere to be seen.

"Sheesh, if you are going to impersonate that idiot, at least think of better lies." And with that, Kiba attacked. 'Naruto' was ready though, and dodged Kiba's punches but he neglected to keep an eye out for Akamaru. When the dog suddenly appeared behind Naruto's legs, the latter fell over his body and hit his head on a rock outcropping. He was instantaneously unconscious.

"Well, now they have Naruto." Kiba panted out.

"Yeah." Neji agreed. "And these containers have poison in them." He continued, pouring his water out. The clients all looked at each for a second and then promptly followed his example.

"Let's tie up that imposter and head out to find him." By this time the _henge_ on the Naruto look alike had worn off and in his place was a mask covered hidden stone ninja.

They followed Shikamaru's orders and gathered around him to be briefed on a plan of action.

* * *

"Man, why am I always the one who has to get into these kinds of situations?" Naruto whined to himself. 

His hands were full with fighting two of the stone-nins who had popped up on him from out of nowhere while he was filling up those water bottles.

"_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." _Naruto created one clone and engaged the enemy one on one.

"Geez, I hope the others are okay without me around." Naruto murmured to himself.

"Hey, pipsqueak, why don't you worry about yourself before you worry about your comrades?" One of his attackers laughed at him. Naruto gritted his teeth against the slight towards his height. He was short, but he was not going to let someone ridicule it, dammit. He rushed forward to attack when, suddenly, two hands grabbed his ankles from below him.

"Wha...?" _The other must have defeated my clone. _

Naruto forcefully detached himself from his captor. He heard the rush of movement from ahead of him and looked up just in time to see the other stone-nin only inches away from slicing his head off.

"Like hell I would let you do that." It sounded almost distant to Naruto. He just kept staring at the kunai which went off-course when the stone-nin was pushed to the side by an angry Kiba.

"Why don't you think before you attack, you idiot." Kiba yelled at him. Akamaru's barks giving it a good level of viciousness.

That broke Naruto out of his trance. "What? Like you're one to talk, Mr. Plan-later-attack-first Kiba." Naruto yelled back.

"Well, whatever. What do you say we finish off these weirdoes? Eh?" Kiba smirked as he took his Inuzuka _taijutsu_ style stance against the stone-nins, Akamaru growling at his feet.

"Bet I can do it faster than you." Naruto smiled back, taking his own stance.

The stone-nins growled at hearing such insolence, "Brats, learn to respect your elders who have more experience than you." The shinobi facing Naruto shot at them.

"Speak with your fists, old man, not with your mouth." Kiba sniped back at him. "_Ninpou_: Inuzuka style, Beast Effect." And Kiba launched into his attacks with Akamaru and Naruto following soon after.

* * *

Punches, kicks and chakra flew everywhere, with Naruto, Akamaru and Kiba in their midst. It was a relatively short battle but both were quite exhausted towards the end of it. While Kiba checked on an unconscious Akamaru tiredly, Naruto leant against a nearby pine. The stone shinobi were lying unconscious a few feet away. 

"Well, that's that. Where are the others, anyway?" Naruto asked once he got his breath back a little.

"They went out ahead following Shikamaru's plan, to deal with the rest. I finished my guy off, so I decided to look for you." Kiba answered and then sat up, sighing. "That imposter they sent us was a total idiot. Stone-nins might have stealth but they don't seem to have any skills in acting."

Naruto chuckled. He leant back against the tree and looked up towards the deep blue sky. Storm clouds were gathering towards the west but there still seemed to be quite some time before they were hit by the torrent in this part of the forest. _Best to get outta here before then_. Naruto sighed, and let his eyes close. But opened them instantaneously when he heard a low cry emit from Kiba and the next second, there was a colossal pain in his shoulder. He looked down to see a kunai pinning him to the tree he had been leaning against.

When he heard staggering sounds come from the vicinity of the fallen Nins, he looked up. The one he was fighting against was apparently not as damaged as his comrade and stood up again to face them. He growled at them, "If I have to go down then I will take at least one of you with me."

He took hold of another kunai in his hand and advanced with speed that belied his injured state. The stone-_nin_ seemed to only concentrate on killing the enemy even though he would die with this much exertion on his muscles. He brought his kunai up and raced towards a struggling Naruto, who was hopelessly trying to dislodge the sharp instrument that held him to the bark of the tree.

The shinobi brought his arm down with a wild cry; the voice filled with such blood lust that even hell's devils would pale when pitted with such a deranged soul. Naruto closed his eyes, anticipating the kunai to pierce his throat any time within the next second.

The sound of the sharp blade hitting flesh was stark in the otherwise silent clearing. Red colored the previously dusty ground soaking into the earth and dying it nearly black. A solid weight hit the ground raising the dust in waves around the corpse.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly when he did not feel any sharp, pointy objects piercing any part of his anatomy. He looked up in confusion and was struck dumb at a very familiar scene.

Kiba was standing in front of him. His left shoulder and arm hanging limply at his side and at an angle that is quite impossible to achieve from normal standards. A red river of blood was flowing freely out of the gaping hole that the kunai had made on his shoulder. The stone-shinobi was lying at his feet, probably dead.

_Oh god, not again. I can't stand to go through those feelings again. I don't want to loose someone like that. Please. Kiba…_

Naruto couldn't stop his heart or even his mind from racing. He gazed wide-eyed at Kiba, hoping with every ounce of prayer within him that it's not the same. That Kiba is not standing in front like Sasuke did all those years ago. Waiting to fall over and go cold in Naruto's arms. Naruto could not go through that experience again.

But then, Sasuke never turned; Sasuke never came close to him and asked him if he was alright. He just fell into Naruto's arms, all life gone from his eyes soon after. Naruto, the outcast and a loud mouth that no one liked and was loved even less. Sasuke couldn't. He died that moment.

But Kiba did. He turned, holding his hand against his wound and staggered forward towards Naruto. He reached up and yanked the knife from Naruto's shoulder. The latter did not even flinch from the rough handling of the weapon. He just stared at Kiba, unconsciously waiting for the same thing to happen as it did many years ago on an incomplete bridge, over a wide ocean, near a small village. Waiting and desperately hoping against it.

Kiba was panting and swaying but he held on. He opened his eyes and gazed down into the wide clear ocean blues in front of him. He raised his uninjured hand slowly and touched Naruto's cheek gently with bloodied hands. "Are you alright, Naruto?" He barely managed to ask, his shoulder throbbing from pain and his voice a little rough. Naruto nodded, not blinking and not looking away from Kiba's tired brown eyes.

"Good." And then Kiba fell. Right into Naruto's arms. And it was same as it was with Sasuke. The same heartbreak, the same confusion, that same freaking hellish pain that hits his chest with such sharpness it becomes difficult to breathe. Only this time, it's so much more. For reasons he does not understand, it is much worse to think of Kiba as dead now, than it was for Sasuke then.

"Kiba? Kiba! Please, don't do this to me. Please be alright. Please." Naruto started softly. He felt helpless. Sliding down to the ground, ignoring his own physical wounds, he held Kiba's body close to him, the same way he did Sasuke's. He kept chanting nonsensical words by the time his mind registered that Kiba's body was warm, unlike Sasuke's. He looked up and jerked his hand towards Kiba's neck to check for a pulse and was so overwhelmed with relief to find a weak yet still beating vein that his eyes became wet.

But it's nothing. Something must have fallen into his eyes to make them so dry that they would water, of course. And Kiba would be all better soon. Kiba will be alright. He won't be gone. Naruto won't loose him like he nearly lost Sasuke.

No excuses came to his mind anymore for the hot stream of tears that fell from his eyes and dropped onto Kiba's hair. He brought Kiba's heavy body closer to his own, touching his cheek to those scraggly brown locks and cried with relief for the very first time since he could remember.

* * *

_My body's sore._ Was the first thing that popped into my mind followed immediately by the totally unrelated thought of _I'm hungry. _Sigh, sometimes I think Akamaru is right when he says that I think with my stomach. But give me a break, I'm a growing boy; I need to eat. Sheesh, how am I supposed to become as strong as the legendary _sennins_ if I don't feed myself with food at least four times a day? 

Of course, when I tell that to Akamaru, he will roll his doggy eyes and say that I don't need to be any bigger than I already am. Which I guess might be right. Six feet is no laughing matter after all and I don't think I would like to grow as big width wise as I have length wise, thank you very much. Anyway, there's this annoying noise buzzing around my ear and bringing me out of my sweet dreamless sleep. When I find the perpetrator of this noise, I'll cut of their tongues so that they would never be able to reach this level of annoyingness ever again.

"…we honestly could not even dent those ice mirrors, Akamaru. Sasuke even tried his fire _jutsu_ and you know how hot those are…" Naruto. Of course.

Apparently, the idiot was regaling Akamaru with tales of his past missions, the veracity of which is quite doubtful in my mind and I think Akamaru's as well. I ignored his chit-chat to the best of my ability and looked around the room. As much as I could anyway, without gaining their attention.

I am in a hospital. Oh that was such a brilliant deduction that I might be promoted to the _Jounin_ level by just stating this fact alone. My sarcasm knows no bounds.

I try to ease back into the warmth and safety of sleep when I hear, or rather not hear, Naruto go quite. This is curious. He was talking as if there was no tomorrow just a minute ago and now he is silent enough to be initiated as a member of the Aburame clan. Those people have serious social issues.

Akamaru asks Naruto what's wrong. Of course, to him, Akamaru's barks would be just that, nonsensical loud noises. Only the Inuzuka clan, in all of Hidden Leaf, has the ability to communicate with them.

"Its nothing Akamaru, I'm fine." Naruto replies quietly. Maybe I was wrong and Naruto could understand dogs as well.

"I just don't know why he did that. He hated me since the time we met. He said so himself. He had no reason. And then goes ahead and does that." Naruto starts ranting. His voice is steadily gaining volume. Sigh, I don't think I will be able to sleep for a while.

"Sasuke is such an irrational bastard." That he is.

"And Kiba's no better."

"Hey, I resent that." Uh-oh. Me and my big mouth.

Naruto stops his rant and stares at me wide-eyed. His hands are still in the air, frozen from their emphatic waving to prove his point. He was sitting in a wooden chair beside my bed with Akamaru in front of him lying lazily beside me. Both were bandaged but seemed otherwise fine.

"Kiba." Naruto says, his hands still in the air, "You're awake." He finishes calmly.

Naruto and the word calm together in a sentence is a very dangerous thing.

"Yeah, I am." I croak out. My voice rough from sleep and I try to sit up.

Naruto calmly – again with the dreaded word; this is seriously starting to freak me out – rises up from his seat, helps me lean against the headstand and goes back to his seat. Akamaru had in the mean while made a quick exit out of the ward, probably to avoid having to suffer from any mental issues the word 'calm' and Naruto might result into.

Naruto's head is bowed. His golden hair, free of its usual restraint behind the forehead protector, falls in front of his eyes and is shading the emotions behind them from my view. I want him to look up, look into my eyes. His eyes are so unique. Not unique as in Hinata and Neji's white one's. Believe me when I say nobody in the world other than the Hyuuga clan can have eyes like that. But unique in a way that they can drown you with the sheer power of the emotions you see behind them. Is it just me, or did I suddenly turn poetic?

Naruto's head is still bowed and I am starting to feel uneasy in this silence. I decide to break it by asking him some questions. "Where are we?" Wow, even I have the capability to talk softly when needed.

"Gravel village. Earth Country. Central Hospital." Short sentences. Monotonous.

"Um…How long was I out?" I don't think I had slept for long, but it could have been days.

"Two days." Ah, I am starting to sense a pattern here. Last I checked we were only a day's journey away from the nearest village in the Earth country from our location in the forest. Hm, they must have moved at post haste to get here after that blood bath.

"Where are Shikamaru and Neji?"

"Acting bodyguards to Fire country officials." Oh, that's right. We are still under mission to protect the messengers and investigators from the Fire Country, especially now that we have entered the Earth Country. Guess, Naruto, Akamaru and I were excused for a while due to our injuries. I sigh, and I know a frown is marring my façade. That means, back to the boring duty of guarding the corrupted behinds of stuck up diplomats. Life is great, ain't it? Note the sarcasm.

"…Why?" Naruto's soft whisper, barely louder than the wind, breaks me out of my reverie.

"Why what?" Now, I'm confused. What is he talking about?

"Why did you do that? Back at the clearing. Why did you take the kunai for me?" His voice is rising and I have this sudden premonition that I would become quite deaf if I don't talk. Now.

"Why not?" I state.

The head snaps up and he has this startled look on his face. His mouth is open slightly; his eyes are wide and focused on mine. He looks as adorable as Akamaru did when Mum brought him out of his litter for the first time to meet me.

"What?" He asks or sort of squeaks.

"I said, 'Why not?'. What's wrong with doing what I did? He was about to hurt you, you could not move, so I stopped him." I say this as coolly as I could, given the circumstances that I am starting to blush remembering why I _really_ did what I did.

He is starting to get pissed. I can tell. His eyes have narrowed and are glaring into mine with irritation. I think I like seeing him like this.

"Kiba. Why would you stand in front of a deadly weapon to save someone you don't know much about? You could have died, you bloody idiot." He finally explodes.

"But I didn't, did I?" I say. "And I saved your life, you bloody ingrate." Great, he is starting to piss me off too.

"That is not the point." He shouts. "You willingly stood in front of someone you think of as a loser, a near stranger and, you could have been seriously hurt. Why did you do it?" He is getting hysterical.

"Because I like you." I say.

That stops him. "What?" He is dumbfounded.

"Are you deaf?" I am irritated.

"Kiba." He growls.

"I like you, you idiot. Like as in like-like. Like as in love sick like. Like as in….as in…err, I don't know any other way to put it."

Goldfish style shock suits Naruto. Mouth opening and closing, eyes wide, you know the works.

"You…like…me." He says slowly.

"Yes…I…do." I imitate him. That snaps him out of his stupor and he's at it again.

"How, how can you like me?" He has started pacing the room.

"Why not?" I ask.

"You hate me."

"No, I don't."

"You used to."

"People change."

"Not everyone do."

"I did."

"Argh." Naruto gives up. Nobody can keep up with me in rapid fire conversation. I am still the man.

"How can it work? We are both boys." Naruto is back in his seat, his head in his hands.

"Ah, so you do want it to work." No matter what Akamaru says, I know I am smart.

His head shoots up. Seems like it is doing that a lot today and I think he might get a whiplash if this keeps up. He stares at me and stutters, "I…y-no…err…I mean. It's wrong." He finishes nervously, avoiding my eyes.

"Naruto, look at me." I have moved closer to him and when he looks at me there are only a few centimeters between us. I move my head closer to his, my hands coming up to touch his soft whiskered cheeks.

"Close your eyes." I whisper, with my mouth hovering over his. He does. And I kiss him.

Finally, after thinking and trying to _not _think about how he might taste I finally get to verify that my fantasies pale to the shadow of Naruto's very essence that I taste right now. I have smelt his presence countless times, I have analyzed and deducted that his scent changes after every instance of a dangerous situation, like a variable affecting the equation. I don't remember when I started to wonder if his taste changes too. But he tastes the same as his fundamental scent. That scent of warm sunshine and a hint of danger. It's like a base for all those various scents that emerge out of his essence every time he is in need to bring it out. I'll just shut up now and enjoy this sweet kiss that may be the first of many to come.

Or it may be the last one I might have with him.

After a few minutes I pull away from him. We are both panting and my hands are now holding his shoulders. Once I get my breath back, I ask, "Did that feel wrong to you?"

He does not answer at first. His eyes dart to my face and then look away towards the window that I only now have noticed and wish it was not there. I don't want that kiss to be the last. It was phenomenal and I want to taste him again.

After a while he answers me softly, looking back into my eyes, smiling softly.

"No, it wasn't."

A grin breaks out on my face and I can tell that he is happy too. I embrace him tightly. He hugs me back just as securely, burrowing his face into my chest.

When I look over his head towards the doorway to the room, I see Akamaru sitting on his haunches and giving me a doggy grin. He notices that he has my attention and winks at me, giving a few yips. He then trots out of the hospital room and closes the door.

"Stupid mutt." I mutter with a huge grin. I know he would be guarding the room from being entered by anyone.

I take a deep breath and Naruto's scent assaults my sensitive nose and, I can't help but state it out loud.

"Honey and sunshine."

Naruto looks up quizzically from my chest.

"Your scent. It always changes. Its usually sunshine at the base but right now you smell like honey."

He grins up at me. I love his smiles too. God I am one love-sick dog.

"Your scent never changes, Kiba." He says. His grin widens into the one he usually holds while praying pranks, his scent shifting into that of the mischief category.

"Oh really? And what pray tell, do I smell like?" I admit I am curious.

He brought his mouth very close to my ear and whispered very softly, his breath tingling my spine.

"You smell of dog." With that he dashes out of the room before I can do much of anything, laughing like a lunatic.

"Naruto!!!" I yell, furious. But a second later I dissolve into a fit of laughter that revives the pain in my shoulder. As I lean back on my bed into a more comfortable position and stare out the window, I can still smell Naruto's honey and sunshine scent in the room and bask in the glow of his warm laughter that is pleasantly echoing in my mind. I realize that he may have many different scents, but he is still Naruto.

_My _Naruto_._

---And Like Always The Beginning---


End file.
